In Masechet (tractate) Bava Batra, Perek Vav (Chapter Six), Mishnah Gimel, we said in the last Mishnah how much sour or inferior wine a buyer has to accept as part of his deal to buy wine. We said it was 10%. That is the expected amount of wine that will have a little bit of a different taste.
In this Mishnah, we will now talk about what happens if the wine had been checked before the buyer took it home and was fresh and good-tasting at that time, but later spoiled after the buyer took it home. The situation is that the buyer tells the seller he is using the wine for cooking. Cooking wine is usually supposed to last much longer because only a little bit is used at a time in cooking. The Mishnah says: “Someone sells wine to his friend, and it turns into vinegar after he brings it home. The seller is not responsible for it.” This is so even if the buyer specified at that time that he was using it very slowly because he was using it for cooking.
The buyer took the wine, poured it into his own jugs when he bought it, and transported it home. So the seller can always tell the buyer, “Your kelim were problematic. They caused the wine to spoil. Your jugs were dirty inside, and the mixture of whatever was in your jugs and the wine caused it to spoil.” But we see from here that the seller cannot claim that the buyer should have drunk the wine right away, because he was clearly told that the wine was for cooking. So the seller knew the wine had to last a very long time. But since the buyer took the wine and poured it into his own jugs, he took away the Achrayut (responsibility) from the seller.
We see from here that if the wine had been kept in the seller’s jugs, then the seller would be liable if the wine became spoiled, because the buyer could tell him, “You knew I was buying wine for cooking, so you should have given me wine that would last a long time.” There is no claim that the jugs caused the problem, because they are not mine; they are the seller’s jugs. So in that scenario, the seller would be liable.
But if the seller did not specify that the wine was for cooking, then in that case the wine was supposed to last a long time. The seller is not liable even if the wine was kept in the original barrels, because he could say that the buyer should have used the wine right away. That could be a possible Ta'anah (claim) from him. So we said back in the Mishnah that the seller in that original case is not responsible because the wine was poured into different jugs.
But if it was known that this seller’s wine never keeps well, and always turns into vinegar right away if it is not drunk right away, because that is just the nature of the product he has, then if the wine spoils, it is considered a mistaken sale. The seller has to refund the money, since he knew that his wine never keeps well. He also knew that the buyer needed it for cooking, which means the wine needed to last a long time, and he did not tell him, “By the way, my product doesn’t last that long.” Then the sale is void, and he has to refund the money.
In certain instances, the seller is required to guarantee that the wine will stay fresh and drinkable for a long time. If the seller made a statement about the wine’s freshness, he has to provide wine that will keep. If the seller told him he was selling him a higher-grade wine that would not spoil quickly, he has to provide wine that will stay fresh until Shavuot (Feast of Weeks), until the holiday of Shavuot.
Assuming that he gave him the wine around Sukkot (Feast of Booths) time, the wine is expected to stay unspoiled throughout the wine season, from Sukkot all the way until Shavuot. But we would not expect it to stay unspoiled through the summer, because the heat of the sun in the summer could spoil even the most superior types of wine.
If the seller told him he was selling him old wine, he has to give him wine from last year, wine that was produced during the previous season. It is already a year old, and it has to stay fresh until the end of the current season. If the sale was of aged wine, he has to give him wine from two seasons ago, which is three years old by the end of the present season.